Early on at Converge Consulting, we were repeatedly asked, “Do you do website redesign?” Our first thought: No way. It takes too long. It’s too political. It never gets finished. It’s messy and technical.

In other words: It’s too hard.

But the requests kept coming so, as often happens in life, we changed our minds. We determined we would not only do website redesign—we would RETHINK how college and university websites SHOULD be redesigned. We also committed to making the process easier for higher education institutions.

As a company based on—and driven by—data to make decisions, Converge believes website redesign in higher education is easier if colleges and universities embrace the following philosophies:

1. Your website is your storefront.
It is the digital view of your institution, your story and the key driver of your brand—not the storage room where you keep anything and everything. By seeing your website as a storefront that can be viewed anywhere at anytime, your institution will better understand the importance of telling your story—visually and verbally—in a clean, concise, compelling and coherent way. Just as a storefront window doesn’t display everything in a shop, your homepage can’t highlight everyone and everything at your institution. By having a clean storefront (web design), you will enhance the experience visitors have to your site.

2. Data doesn’t lie.
When it comes to your website, you need a clear picture of what information and pages people are accessing most frequently—information you can ascertain through Google Analytics.  Through this powerful (often underutilized) tool, you can also see what types of devices people are using to visit your website, which pages have the highest bounce rate, conversions and user path—data that will help you prioritize your content in a strategic way.

3. Online is the great equalizer.
 You don’t need a big budget and big staff to compete with institutions that have more money, time and resources than you. Google doesn’t care if XYZ University spent $500,000 on brand marketing last year. It only cares if a website has content that has been search engine optimized to meet Google’s technical specifications. By putting the importance of SEO, keyword research, on- and off-page optimization, etc., ahead of pretty pictures and fancy design, you set the stage for a robust website—one that will draw in prospective students and donors and make a compelling case as to why your institution is a great fit for them. (Don’t worry—you can have pretty pictures and fancy design, too).

4. Start with content strategy.
Before you start with Information Architecture (IA), before you design a single template or write one single program page, you need to discuss and develop an overarching content strategy. Talk about what you’ve done in the past—what worked and didn’t work—and how you will move forward, strategically. Think and talk about your audience—who they are and what they want. Analyze your current content. What should go, what should stay and what desperately needs help? How will you create content—words and images—that will be both memorable and measurable? (Oh wait—that’s our motto!)

I’m glad we changed our minds at Converge Consulting and decided to do website redesign. It’s some of the most rewarding work we do.

It’s true: You really can redesign your website. It actually will get finished. Yes, it will take time—but in the end, you’ll have a “storefront” that you’re not only proud of, but one that let’s visitors know exactly what you offer—and why they should come inside.